Download or read book In Defense of Farmers written by Jane Gibson and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-07-01 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industrial agriculture is generally characterized as either the salvation of a growing, hungry, global population or as socially and environmentally irresponsible. Despite elements of truth in this polarization, it fails to focus on the particular vulnerabilities and potentials of industrial agriculture. Both representations obscure individual farmers, their families, their communities, and the risks they face from unpredictable local, national, and global conditions: fluctuating and often volatile production costs and crop prices; extreme weather exacerbated by climate change; complicated and changing farm policies; new production technologies and practices; water availability; inflation and debt; and rural community decline. Yet the future of industrial agriculture depends fundamentally on farmers’ decisions. In Defense of Farmers illuminates anew the critical role that farmers play in the future of agriculture and examines the social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities of industrial agriculture, as well as its adaptations and evolution. Contextualizing the conversations about agriculture and rural societies within the disciplines of sociology, geography, economics, and anthropology, this volume addresses specific challenges farmers face in four countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. By concentrating on countries with the most sophisticated production technologies capable of producing the largest quantities of grains, soybeans, and animal proteins in the world, this volume focuses attention on the farmers whose labors, decision-making, and risk-taking throw into relief the implications and limitations of our global industrial food system. The case studies here acknowledge the agency of farmers and offer ways forward in the direction of sustainable agriculture.
Download or read book The Farmer s Decision written by Jerry L. Hatfield and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decision making to achieve a balance between the economic goals of producers and environmental quality benefits is complex. Most of the time we consider that the balance is skewed to one side or the other and that there are winners and losers. From the production perspective, the loser is the economic return in exchange for environmental quality while from the environmental perspective, the loser is the environment at the expense of agricultural production and increased inputs. In reality, there are opportunities within agriculture for a win-win situation; however, to explore the endless possibilities that constitute acceptable solutions is extremely difficult. Over the past few years there has been an increasing development of decision support tools that provide a framework that could be applied to agriculture. As I have worked with producers extensively over the past few years, it has become apparent that we could provide more information to the American producer that would help them evaluate different scenarios in their farming systems and evaluate potential alternatives through a combination of simulation tools and decision support systems. These are easy concepts to suggest, but more difficult to implement. As an effort to expand our understanding of the potential of decision support tools for economic and environmental balance, a proposal was made to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in two theme areas. The outcome yielded an international workshop that assembled an international group of experts in decision support systems, simulation models, and agricultural production through industry, consultants, and producers. This group also addressed enhancing environmental quality in agricultural systems. ---Jerry L. Hatfield from Preface.
Download or read book What Shall We Grow written by Peggy F. Barlett and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Farmer s Decision Making Processes written by Great Britain. Agricultural Development and Advisory Service and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Freedom Farmers written by Monica M. White and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 1967, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural and economic development project, FFC would grow to over 600 acres, offering a means for local sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers to pursue community wellness, self-reliance, and political resistance. Life on the cooperative farm presented an alternative to the second wave of northern migration by African Americans--an opportunity to stay in the South, live off the land, and create a healthy community based upon building an alternative food system as a cooperative and collective effort. Freedom Farmers expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern Black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.
Download or read book Farmers Decision Making written by Brian H. Jacobsen and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Climate Change and Agriculture Impacts Adaptation and Mitigation written by Wreford Anita and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2010-06-17 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the economic and policy issues related to the impacts of climate change on agriculture and adaptation responses and to the mitigation of greenhouse gases from agriculture.
Download or read book Realising Farmers Rights to Crop Genetic Resources written by Regine Andersen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farmers' Rights are essential for maintaining crop genetic diversity, which is the basis of all food and agricultural production in the world. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture recognizes Farmers' Rights and provides for relevant measures. However, implementation is slow, and in many countries there is resistance. This book shows the necessity of realizing Farmers' Rights for poverty alleviation and food security, the practical possibilities of doing so, and the potential gains for development and society at large. It provides decision-makers and practitioners with a conceptual framework for understanding Farmers’ Rights and success stories showing how each of the elements of Farmers' Rights can be realized in practice. The success stories have brought substantial achievements as regards one or more of the four elements of Farmers' Rights: the rights of farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed; the protection of traditional knowledge; benefit- sharing; and participation in decision-making. This does not mean that these examples are perfect. Challenges encountered on the way are conveyed and offer important lessons. The stories represent different regions and localities, including Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as various categories of stakeholders and types of initiatives and policies.
Download or read book The Intuitive Farmer written by Peter L. Nuthall and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Successful farm management is based upon excellent decision making by the farm owner. In practice, most decisions are made intuitively rather than the result of careful data collection and analysis, or analyzing others' views and associated factors. Thus, the farmer's intuitive decisions have a major impact on the business practices, efficiency, profitability, and success of the farm. In the form of a character-driven novel, this book guides the reader through a series of lessons for farmers to improve their intuitive decision making. The story follows Ben, a New Zealand farmer, as an important member of a discussion group. The experimental program is set up by a management researcher, Tom, to explore the best way to improve farmers' intuition. The farmer group has different characters in different situations, each one of which leads to interesting dilemmas and lessons. Each chapter addresses a different issue affecting farmers, such as risk management, benchmarking, budgeting and planning, negotiation skills, active listening, and farm ownership. By the end of the novel, the reader will have absorbed important farm management principles and practices through the activities and findings of the group. The Intuitive Farmer follows on from successful business management books, such as The Goal, which communicate business ideas and strategies in novel form. This is the first such book applied to agricultural management practices, providing a dependable source for farmers, agricultural and farm management students, and people involved in agriculture industries. [Subject: Agriculture, Business, Adult Fiction]
Download or read book Managing Cover Crops Profitably 3rd Ed written by Andy Clark and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.
Download or read book The Farm Family Business written by Ruth Gasson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1949 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farming as it is practised in market industrialized countries is predominantly a family business. This book argues that the nature of the farm business cannot be properly understood without reference to the family that operates it. Examples are taken from the UK, USA, Europe and Australasia.
Download or read book The Good Farmer written by Rob J.F. Burton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developed by leading authors in the field, this book offers a cohesive and definitive theorisation of the concept of the 'good farmer', integrating historical analysis, critique of contemporary applications of good farming concepts, and new case studies, providing a springboard for future research. The concept of the good farmer has emerged in recent years as part of a move away from attitude and economic-based understandings of farm decision-making towards a deeper understanding of culture and symbolism in agriculture. The Good Farmer shows why agricultural production is socially and culturally, as well as economically, important. It explores the history of the concept and its position in contemporary theory, as well as its use and meaning in a variety of different contexts, including landscape, environment, gender, society, and as a tool for resistance. By exploring the idea of the good farmer, it reveals the often-unforeseen assumptions implicit in food and agricultural policy that draw on culture, identity, and presumed notions of what is 'good'. The book concludes by considering the potential of the good farmer concept for addressing future, emerging issues in agriculture. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of food and agriculture and rural development, as well as professionals and policymakers involved in the food and agricultural industry.
Download or read book The Farmer s Son written by John Connell and published by Houghton Mifflin. This book was released on 2019 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Until, one winter, after more than a decade away, he finds himself back on the farm.
Download or read book Farming Systems and Poverty written by John A. Dixon and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2001 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.
Download or read book The Farmers Decision making Process in the Purchase of New Tractors written by Gerald Calvin Wheelock and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Farmer s Office written by Julia Shanks and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical, how-to guide for farmers who want to achieve and maintain financial sustainability in their businesses When you decided to become a farmer, you also became an entrepreneur and business person. In order to be ecologically and financially sustainable, you must understand the basics of accounting and bookkeeping, and learn how to manage a growing business. Author Julia Shanks distills years of teaching and business consulting with farmers into this comprehensive, accessible guide. She covers all aspects of launching, running and growing a successful farm business through effective bookkeeping and business management, providing tools to make managerial decisions, apply for a loan or other financing, and offering general business and strategy advice for growing a business. Whether you've been farming for many years or just getting started, The Farmer's Office gives you the tools needed to think like an entrepreneur and thoughtfully manage your business for success.
Download or read book A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in U S Agriculture written by Richard E. Just and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2002 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After all the research on agricultural risk to date, the treatment of risk in agricultural research is far from harmonious. Many competing risk models have been proposed. Some new methodologies are largely untested. Some of the leading empirical methodologies in agricultural economic research are poorly suited for problems with aggregate data where risk averse behavior is less likely to be important. This book is intended to (i) define the current state of the literature on agricultural risk research, (ii) provide a critical evaluation of economic risk research on agriculture to date and (iii) set a research agenda that will meet future needs and prospects. This type of research promises to become of increasing importance because agricultural policy in the United States and elsewhere has decidedly shifted from explicit income support objectives to risk-related motivations of helping farmers deal with risk. Beginning with the 1996 Farm Bill, the primary set of policy instruments from U.S. agriculture has shifted from target prices and set aside acreage to agricultural crop insurance. Because this book is intended to have specific implications for U.S. agricultural policy, it has a decidedly domestic scope, but clearly many of the issues have application abroad. For each of the papers and topics included in this volume, individuals have been selected to give the strongest and broadest possible treatment of each facet of the problem. The result is this comprehensive reference book on the economics of agricultural risk.
